508-644-0193

i had this number call me and tell me that i am being sued
they had my social and everything

This man of indian decent keeps calling my job 16 times alreay today.  Frantically telling me there is a lawsuit against me and that I must talk to him.  I called the number back and and asked for an english speaking person and he hangs up on me.

The same thing is happening to me. When I ask for the name and address of the company he's calling from he tells me he cannot give me that information and that I should hold for his supervisor. He claims to be calling from a company named "Criminal Investigations and Litigations".

I have received 10 calls so far from this idiot.  I called the number, could barely understand him.  I asked what company he is with and what their physical address is, he would not tell me.  Then I proceeded to tell him I have already reported him and to stop calling because I know this is a scam.  He then told me he could not find my phone number in their data base and I must be wrong.

tHIS GUY CALLED ME AND SAID HIS NAME IS Robin Archer and I asked for his address and for him to fax me proof of the debt...Well well surprise..... He said he couldnt until I made a payment!!...LOL..I was like why would I make a payment without paperwork..Learn our Country BUDDY!!!

Whry wrill you knot trell me your nrame? ( miss-spelled on purpose .)
Same problem here.. This jack [***] has called me 16 times, or at least that is what the blocked call record states. I would really, REALLY like to know where and who this is as I know I have no pending legal matters. The last conversation became a bit more than a nuisance as he doesn't even know my name and stated that he will call me again and again and again if I hang up on him. Only advice I can give is to block the number.

An officer Roger Miller repeatedly called me at work, called our receptionist a "[***]" and talked to our personnel staff to fire me...when asked for a fax regarding what I owe he said he can't do that....I know for a start this is a scam, so the last resort I did is filed a complaint to www.ftc.gov, hoping this group of scams will be stopped.  
Same thing they won't give me the company name, their address and who their manager is, they won't even send me something in wrting!

He just did the same to me! He stated that if I didn't call him back there would be harm and legal charges pressed against me... and if I didn't get this bogus legal matter taken care of then I am taking all my friends and myself down and will end up in prison. Tried calling back... but he refuses to answer. stupid [***].

I am the attorney for the Cleveland County Department of Social Services in Shelby, NC.  We have been receiving repeated calls from this number.

For at least the last four years, possibly longer, a group has been calling former payday loan applicants advising them that they have defrauded a bank and are now being sued for non-payment of a loan.  The callers will claim to be calling on behalf of an attorney's office (name varies), the Dept. of Law and Investigation, ACS, or other similar combinations below:

United Legal Processing Division
Midline Marketing
Crime Monitoring Services
Monetary Crime Division
U.S. National Bank
Attorney General’s Office (usually in California)
American Legal Services
Affidavit Consolidation Services (ACS)

You will be threatened with arrest, a costly trial and possibly worse.  In no shape, way or form can you be arrested for non-payment on a consumer debt.  Do not believe these threats, as they are without merit and cannot be carried out in the manner they allege.  

Who are they?

In the past when pressed by law enforcement for an address, the callers have provided the following information:

David Morgan and Associates
Morgan & Associates
Morgan Associates
954-727-8481
1155 Northwest 85th Street
Wintergarden, Florida  33150
(Address is likely invalid)

The collector's MO matches a once legit collections agency called Ellis Crosby & Associates.  Here are some links on them:

http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/ellis_crosby_and_associates.htm
http://www.budhibbs.com/collectorpages/EllisCrosbyJudgment.pdf

They have been previously fined over $1.3 million for various violations.  They have been known to use phone banks in India to make their calls, which more or less coincides with the difficult to understand accent many of us detect when we are contacted.  

The last time this group went by any "official" name was back in 2008:

Ellis Crosby & Associates / Douglas & Morgan Associates
4494 Southside Boulevard Suite #200
Jacksonville Florida 32216
Phone:  800-928-3536 / (904) 928-3536
(Address is likely invalid)

There are NUMEROUS consumer alerts out against this group of individuals:

Florida:
http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061107/met_176207561.shtml

Kansas:  
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/01/ks_debt_collection.html

Colorado:  
http://www.coloradoattorneygeneral.gov/press/ ... lls_likely_orig

Rhode Island:  
http://www.collectionscreditrisk.com/news/rho ... -3002135-1.html

West Virginia:
http://www.wvago.gov/internetloanscam.cfm

Missouri:
On July 15th, 2010 a Public Awareness Bulletin was sent out by Missouri Information Analysis Center.  

"..received reports from individuals in Ohio and Illinois reference suspicious telephone calls they received. In both instances, the callers are reporting that a voicemail is received from a man, with a Middle Eastern accent, identifying himself as an officer working with the Financial Crimes Unit.  The message indicates that the reason for the call concerns a loan made by the receiver or someone in the receiver's family. The voicemail requests that a return call be made and a telephone number is provided. When a return call is made, the caller is asked to provide personal identifying information such as their date of birth and social security number.

Reports indicate that the calls are frequent and persistent and that they even threaten arrest or legal action if information or money is not provided. It appears that the individuals making these calls may have access to some records connecting individuals and their relatives.  Missouri does not have a Financial Crimes Unit and all indications are that this is a fictitious agency. If you receive a similar phone call, please be advised that it is a scam and please contact your local law enforcement agency or the Missouri Information Analysis Center at 866-362-6422."

Bottom line:

Do not supply the callers with any additional information.  Inform them you have reported them to law enforcement and hang up.  If you haven't already, go ahead and report the calls to local law enforcement, your state's Attorney General and beyond.  Look up the local Secret Service branch's information in your area and get in contact with an agent there.  

If you ever applied for a cash advance online, your information is out there.  
Possible sources for the breach of your privacy are:

* The scammers obtained your information from Teletrack - a reporting agency used by many cash advance lenders to determine their risk lending to you.  The service is able to tell cash advance lenders if you have existing loans with other companies, for example.  Many state laws prohibit borrowers from having more than two cash advances out at the same time.

* The scammers created their own fake payday loan application site.  People looking for a cash advance went to the site and applied, thus freely providing the scammers with their information for malicious use at a later time.  

* The scammers were able to get into the database(s) of cash advance lenders - probable targets being Sonic Payday and Cashnet USA.  


How to protect yourself:

* Inform your employer.  You are likely getting calls at home and/or at work, so make sure your employer is aware the calls are part of a scam and to not take them seriously.  Advise the callers that they are no longer allowed to call you at work.  If they continue to call, document the date and time of the calls you received.  Save voice mails left if at all possible.  

* Change your number(s).  For some this may not be an option, for others a one-time number change can be done free of charge.

Be advised - any references you listed on your payday loan application will be contacted.  Let those people know that this is a scam, and they can disregard.

* Use Google Voice.  Google Voice is a great replacement voice mail system for just about any phone number you use.  Messages can be transcribed and voice mail recordings can be saved as mp3 files.  

Pro Tip - call the scammers with a Google Voice number before turning off your old phone numbers.  Make sure when you call you identify yourself so they can start up their script.  At any point after they have your information pulled up just hang up.  They will then start religiously calling your Google Voice number.  At this point, you are free to change your regular phone number(s) and enjoy not having these people ever call you again.  (And laugh at the fact these people are basically talking to a brick wall several times a day)

The scammers change their numbers frequently.  Law enforcement used to think it was because the callers ran out of minutes on their prepaid wireless accounts or they were shuttered due to fraud, but now they understand it's simply to evade detection by savvy consumers online.  With the proliferation of VoIP, it's even easier for the crooks to stay a couple of steps ahead of law enforcement.  Below is just a sampling of the 30+ numbers that have been used in recent memory.

1-201-244-7722
1-209-349-7382
1-209-797-2212
1-212-500-0839
1-213-256-0408
1-213-995-3039
1-281-763-0433
1-347-289-3902
1-347-844-6817
1-347-844-6831
1-424-354-4270
1-516-232-8905
1-516-232-8935
1-518-212-0219
1-561-300-8018
1-561-210-4185
1-626-200-4646
1-631-456-4041
1-646-274-1143
1-646-810-8635
1-650-241-4604
1-707-401-4056
1-707-633-2789
1-708-401-0535
1-716-442-2824
1-717-862-4080
1-718-705-8669
1-760-514-0132
1-760-563-5384
1-772-318-4938
1-850-201-1111
1-858-777-1977
1-859-908-2281
1-866-860-4509
1-877-226-7488
1-888-706-7463
1-888-771-9249
1-888-785-4479
1-909-327-4870

So can they really do anything to you?

It's not a simple yes or no answer.  Logic dictates that, if they really wanted to take you for a ride and drain your bank accounts, they already would have.  

So, why haven't they?  

Authorization.  

Why do you think you are being called so much?  Perhaps it is because they like the sound of your voice?  No, they have to have your authorization to take any form of payment from you, period.  The callers know their audience, and that audience is typically a bunch of people that have applied for payday loans in the past.  Most of those people they call couldn't afford an attorney if they wanted one, and are so used to receiving collections calls that so long as they sound like a real collector, they will likely be perceived as one.

Furthermore, they don't even really want to talk to your attorney - that just sounds official and scary enough.  A real attorney would take the callers to task and write them off as two-bit con artists.  The callers need you, in writing, to authorize payment against the fictitious debt they claim you owe.  Go ahead, ask them for proof you owe the debt - more commonly known as verification of debt.  See what they say.  A phone authorization carries very little weight, so if they have something signed by you on file, you are done for - and the callers know that.  That authorization is the only thing these callers are doing by the book, and for good reason.  If they just went all willy nilly and made an ACH debit from your checking account, without your written approval, you could in turn report the transaction as fraudulent to your financial institution.  In about 7-10 business days, you would get the funds returned to your account.  Then the scammers would be up against a bank and their team of lawyers and investigators.  

Bottom line:

If you haven't paid the callers a dime, don't.  If you planned on paying them to shut them up, just don't.  Remember - you are not being contacted by a legally licensed, ethically owned and operated collector.  Read up on the FDCPA - http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf - and know your rights.

https://800notes.com/Phone.aspx/1-646-274-1143/3

He called my boss and my boss the number that came up was +052797796 gave me the phone and I spoke to a David Scott he said he was from the FBI and had my social security number. He called from a 508-644-0193. Then he called my cell with a different number +052797796 and then he called my boss again with that number I answered his phone and when I spoke to him he told me that he and his supervisor called my cell and it was disconnected. When I told him that he called my cell and I seen his number he started to argue with me.

I received calls from this number, and the guy said his name was Robin Archer, the call wasn't even for me, it was for my sister, but I told the jerk not to call me any more and told me I was going to lose my job, really????? how could that possibly happen, you called me for someone else!!!!!!!!!!!!

This guy with an indian accent keeps calling me cant understand the guy hardly at all saying something about a debt i owe and legal matters were going to happen. i have not answered the phone when this number comes up. he just leaves me voice messages telling me to call him back and provide him with information like SSN.

The same Indian decent man calls my phone 10 times a day told him this wasn't even the numbber of who he is calling makes no difference continues calling anyways threading

I have received several harassing and rude calls from these middle eastern people who claim that I owe them 500 dollars for an unpaid loan!!! I have never received or borrowed money from these people and they call non stop. They stole some info from me through a computer database and have one of my employers numbers and continue to harass her as well. They tell her she owes them money!!!! They say things like "Why are you mad, does your husband beat you?" or, "We have something  for you." and, "If you ignore this call, may God be with you!' I am sick and fed up and want this to stop!!

Man with Indian accent called from 508-644-0193 stating that my SSN has been involved in a court case in Missouri and I need to call Raymond back immediately. Of course the # is never available!? also received another call fron Shawn Richmand with a strong Indian accent stating that I will be sued for internet fraudulent activity; strangeky enough he mentioned my brothers name as well who does not live with me nor knows my personal info. This # is 714-333-2443.